Mississippi · Nonprofit
INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE
INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE (Mississippi) receives grants from 79 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,507,118 to it, the largest being THE ROSALINDE AND ARTHUR GILBERT FOUNDATION ($495,000). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 79
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $5.5M
What Institute of Southern Jewish Life does
Mission
In order to support, connect, and celebrate jewish life in the south, the isjl provides a range of programs and services. We do this through three core service areas: education, culture, and spirituality. Because contributing to society as a whole is part of the jewish legacy, we also offer secular literacy programming. Over 10,000 people were served by the isjl programs in 2024.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In order to carry out our mission to support, connect, and celebrate jewish life in the south, the goldring/woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (isjl) provides a range of programs and services. This includes an annual southern & jewish conference, providing an opportunity for participants from across the region to gather and connect each summer. Throughout the year, we also coordinate in-person events, put our staff on the road, and offer online opportunities for engagement. All told, over 10,000 people were served by isjl programs in 2024-2025. Our programs are coordinated by our three programming divisions: education, culture, and spirituality.education: the isjl education division supports jewish learning across the south. In the 2024-2025 school year, 70 religious schools utilized our curriculum; this means approximately 3,000 students were impacted by isjl resources. Our team of education leaders also coordinated a regional cohort of teachers and school professionals, able to network, collaborate, and share best-practices year-round.
$568,991 spent$207,235 earned by the program45% of program spendingCulture: celebrating jewish culture and preserving the unique stories of jewish life in the south is at the heart of the isjl's work. We provide accessible jewish cultural experiences that appeal to diverse audiences. Our free, online encyclopedia of southern jewish communities receives almost 100,000 views each year.
$347,395 spent$11,597 earned by the program28% of program spendingSpirituality: we serve the smallest jewish communities in our region specifically, individuals and congregations without any local full-time clergy and engage in interfaith work and bridge-building that makes all of our communities more inclusive and interconnected. Our spirituality division annually reaches approximately 2,400 individuals with remote and in-person resources, and our staff rabbi visits around 20 communities in-person each year.
$336,673 spent27% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,253,059.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $7.4M to $4.3M (−42%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 23% · 2021 16% · 2022 4% · 2023 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Michele Schipper
CEO
Board chair
Stephen Libowsky
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $237k → $632k.
18 of 79 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $763k from 8 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Houston Jewish Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE raised.
From the IRS filings of INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 79 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
29% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 44% · 2019 21% · 2020 25% · 2021 17% · 2022 19% · 2023 16% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
41% of INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Mississippi, across 18 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $831k arriving through sponsors registered in 14 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $496k on record.
- Department of the Interior$496k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Mississippi
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE?
- INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE (Mississippi) receives grants from 79 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,507,118 to it, the largest being THE ROSALINDE AND ARTHUR GILBERT FOUNDATION ($495,000). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE have?
- IRS filings report 79 organizations giving $3,507,118 in grants to INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE, 48 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE?
- THE ROSALINDE AND ARTHUR GILBERT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $495,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN JEWISH LIFE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Mississippi. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Institute of Southern Jewish Life →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 79 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing